DCA Arts and Cultural Calendar
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March 2021
Shades of L. A. – Photo Collection
The Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection contains images from the 1850s to the present, documenting all aspects of life in Southern California The collection is an archive of over 7,000 photographs They include daily life, social organizations, work, personal and holiday celebrations, and migration and immigration activities.
Sula Bermudez – Silverman: Neither Fish, Flesh, nor Fowl
The exhibit presents the artists’ personal and familial histories as a woman of Afro-Puerto Rican and Jewish descent, transforming genetic data into colorful pie charts that call to mind hard-edged abstractions. Elsewhere, she embroiders vintage doilies with her own hair to depict the human body, as well as language that references the legacy of colorism and passing in the African diaspora. In the works debuting at CAAM, she addresses early global trade, the beginnings of commodification, and economic hierarchies by…
Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth
Men of Change: Power. Triumph. Truth profiles twenty-seven revolutionary men including Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Kendrick Lamar whose journeys have altered the history and culture of the country. Their achievements are woven within the legacy and traditions of the African American experience, becoming emblems of excellence in spite of society’s barriers. Until the Museum reopens be sure to see the Conversations around Men of Change, online tours of the exhibit, and related programs…
Black Migrations to Los Angeles and the Development of the Popular Music and Dance Scene in the Early Twentieth Century
In her talk, Alison Rose Jefferson, will illuminate the African American migrations to Los Angeles and how this influenced the development of the popular music and dance scene in the early twentieth century. She will highlight the development of this scene in the Central Avenue community when it was the hub of African American life during the Jim Crow era and talk about how the new Angels Walk LA heritage trail will amply this history for the public. The presentation…
When Community Creates Exhibitions: The Making of “AfroLAtinidad: Mi Casa, My City”
Join in a conversation about the creation of LA Plaza’s landmark exhibition AfroLAtinidad: Mi Casa, My City. Envisioned and realized by members of the community it represents, it is the first exhibition of its kind dedicated to the unique history, culture, and lived experiences of Afro-Latinx Angelenos. Hear from participants of the team who conceived and formed the exhibition.
Chavez Ravine
Chavez Ravine delves into the transformation of a growing city and a small, tightly-knit neighborhood, a cherished barrio initially slated to be an affordable housing project; however, after years of city-wide scandals, the land lay dormant and eventually became the site of Dodger Stadium. Check the website for an opening date.
Black Matter
Namwali Serpell, professor of literature at Harvard, discusses the origins of Afrofuturism.
Waves of Calamity: Race, Water, and Power in the Evolution of Slavery’s Memory
Dr. Sowande’ Mustakeem, Associate Professor of History and of African and African-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, explores the roles of bonds people, sailors, and slave ship surgeons during the centuries of racial calamity at sea. By centering maritime history and culture in the realities of transoceanic slaving, we gain greater insight into the entangled nature of the human manufacturing system and make greater meaning of the lives of the dead, thereby ensuring the future of collective historical…
California African American Museum YouTube Channel
You can access all of CAAM’s videos “from artist interviews to exhibition previews and guest profiles on CAAM’s YouTube Channel. There are short videos about their exhibitions and public programs plus full recordings of many of their archived Zoom programs including a free yoga class and an inspiring talk with Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and political commentator Bakari Sellers. New videos are added frequently.
Walk Through: AfroLAtinidad: Mi Casa, My City
LA Plaza explores the history and contemporary experiences of afroLAtinidad in Los Angeles through art, photographs, and personal objects in afroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city. In the exhibition, visitors enter a recreated Afro-Latinx home and understand how this vibrant, yet underrepresented community is central to Los Angeles
José Bedia and Belkis Ayón
The Afro-Cuban Experience in Art from the Museum of Latin American Art The Afro-Cuban Experience in Art from the Museum of Latin American Art. Belkis Ayon’s mysterious images are based upon the mythology of the Afro-Cuban all-male secret society the Abakua.
Not a Moment But a Movement
Not a Moment but a Movement is a series of three events pairing play readings with visual artists and musicians to create an interdisciplinary collaboration that celebrates Black voices. Presented in conjunction with Watts Village Theatre and The Fire This Time Festival, each event will feature a host who guides the audience through an audio-visual experience which leads to a virtually produced play reading and post-event discussion to create a uniquely comprehensive cultural event.
The Trials of Biddy Mason
Sally Gordon (University of Pennsylvania) and Kevin Waite (Durham University) explore the role of the Mormon Church and the spread of slavery across the continent in the mid-19th century through the life of Bridget “Biddy” Mason.
Sula Bermúdez-Silverman: Neither Fish, Flesh, nor Fowl
The exhibit presents the artists’ personal and familial histories as a woman of The exhibit presents the artists’ personal and familial histories as a woman of Afro-Puerto Rican and Jewish descent, transforming genetic data into colorful pie charts that call to mind hard-edged abstractions. Elsewhere, she embroiders vintage doilies with her own hair to depict the human body, as well as language that references the legacy of colorism and passing in the African diaspora. In the works debuting at CAAM,…
African American ALOUD Podcasts
Numerous African American-related events have taken place at the Mark Taper Auditorium as part of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles ALOUD series. Explore the best of those conversations.
For the Love of L.A.
For The Love of L.A. highlights the broad and expansive array of Angeleno creativity across diverse disciplines and geographies. More than 35 artists in total will be featured with a platform to express their views of Los Angeles that are relevant and reflective of the current time through music, dance, and visual culture.
Sanctuary: Recent Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection
Sanctuary features recently acquired works that explore the concepts of safety and refuge as they relate to the African American experience. Whether real, staged, or imagined, the worlds depicted in these photographs and mixed-media works support complex narratives and assert the importance of claiming a place of one’s own. Until the Museum reopens be sure to see interviews with Artists and the recent acquisitions on CAAM’s YouTube Channel.
The Past in the Present: America’s Founding and Us
Professor Annette Gordon-Reed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and one of the nation’s premier authorities on the Founding era, discusses how Americans today deal with problematic historical figures such as Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, in the inaugural lecture for the Shapiro Center for American History and Culture at The Huntington.
The Stratford Festival: ‘Antony And Cleopatra’
Reason and judgement prove no match for the tsunami of mutual passion engulfing Mark Antony, one of the three joint rulers of the Roman Republic, and Cleopatra, the seductive queen of Egypt. Surrendering everything to their desires, they open the floodgates to a civil conflict that will shake the very foundations of their world.
California African American Museum – You Tube Channel
Did you know that you can access all of California African American Museum’s videos from artist interviews to exhibition previews and guest profiles on CAAM’s YouTube Channel? You’ll find short videos about our exhibitions and public programs plus full recordings of some of their archived Zoom programs.
The L.A. Rebellion film
The L.A. Rebellion film, refers to a group of young African and African-American filmmakers who studied at the UCLA Film School in the late-1960s to the late-1980s and have created a black cinema that provided an alternative to classical Hollywood movies. The Films Interview are available to the public as part of its ongoing L.A. Rebellion initiative.
California African American Museum YouTube Channel
You can access all of CAAM’s videos “from artist interviews to exhibition previews and guest profiles” on CAAM’s YouTube Channel. There are short videos about their exhibitions and public programs plus full recordings of many of their archived Zoom programs including a free yoga class and a talk with Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and political commentator Bakari Sellers. New videos are added frequently.
LA Soundscapes: Celebrating Samba with Viver Brasil
Viver Brasil offers selections from its Afro-Brazilian repertoire, including a performance of the Orixa Oxum and a Bloco Afro (parade) spectacle, along with a percussion and interactive dance workshop for the whole family.
Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980 Expanded Digital Archive at Hammer Museum
The exhibition Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles, 1960 -1980 chronicled the vital legacy of the city’s African American artists. The expanded digital Archive at the Hammer contains all the art and themes from the exhibition along with biographies of the artists featured in the exhibition. The archive includes lectures, performances, and other events related to the exhibition.
The African American Experience: The American Mosaic
The African American Experience: The American Mosaic online encompasses the myriad contributions of African Americans who have achieved cultural and historical prominence. This electronic resource includes nearly 1,000 biographies of such famous political and social figures as W.E.B. DuBois, Barack Obama, Frederick Douglass, and Mary McLeod Bethune as well as such fascinating contemporary figures as Amiri Baraka, Muhammad Ali, and Oprah Winfrey. The collection also contains roughly 8,000 primary and secondary sources, including the complete WPA (Works Progress Administration) Slave…
Nikita Gale: PRIVATE DANCER
In the installation at CAAM, theatrical lighting trusses are transformed into sculpture, and programmed lights dance to an unheard soundtrack of music by Tina Turner, an icon the artist has been referencing for over six years. By isolating the visual language of live performance in the gallery and separating it from the expectation of audio, Gale creates an uncanny experience that serves as a meditation on the limits of the body, the demands of celebrity, and silence as a political…
From The Ford: Angel City Jazz Festival
From its founding in 2008, the Angel City Jazz Festival has grown into an essential multi-day celebration of cutting-edge jazz, featuring established and emerging music innovators committed to the evolution of jazz and improvised music.
African American Heritage Celebrations
African American Heritage Month is a citywide commemoration of African American heritage and history in Los Angeles. The celebration will acknowledge Southern California’s African American contributions in the areas of education, religion, the arts, culture, and the humanities. Events include dance and music concerts, and gallery exhibitions.
Mistresses of the Market: White Women and the Nineteenth-Century Domestic Slave Trade
Stephanie Jones-Rogers, associate professor of history at University of California, Berkeley, draws upon the testimony of formerly enslaved individuals, the correspondence and account books of slave traders, and a wide range of other material (including travel writing, newspapers, and business directories) to show the myriad ways in which white, primarily married, women actively participated in the South’s slave market economy, which involved the buying, selling, and hiring of enslaved people.
Christa McAuliffe’s Eyes Were Blue
Bernard and Steven Gentry are twins who have lived starkly different lives. The big reason? One is plagued by racism because of his dark skin while the other passes as white. Steven spent his childhood trying to fit in and is now a successful attorney. Bernard was a star student who dreamt of space, but his current prospects are about as dismal as the Challenger Space Shuttle that once inspired him. Spanning their 80s New York City childhood to a…
Lift Every Voice
LA Opera hosted a long-overdue conversation on racial disparity and inequality in opera. Acclaimed mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, moderated and discussed with a panel of renowned artists including Julia Bullock, Lawrence Brownlee, Russell Thomas, Karen Slack, and Morris Robinson.
African American Scholastic Heritage Competition
The African American Scholastic Heritage Competition encourages students in the First thru Twelfth grades to demonstrate knowledge and awareness of African American culture and history through writing [essay competition], speaking [Oratorical Competition], and Memory [Black History Bee].
Da Poetry Lounge Open MIC
Poetry and spoken word open MIC event. Currently hosted virtually on Instagram live every Tuesday night. All ages and performers welcome. Please sign up every Tuesday at 12:00 noon (PST) at wondery.app.link/dapoetrylounge
Teen Book Discussion “Kindred” by Octavia E. Butler
Teens are invited to discuss author Octavia E. Butler’s classic Science Fiction novel Kindred in honor of National African American Heritage Month. Email mmorrone@lapl.org for the Zoom invite.
Zoom Discussion of Black Motion Pictures
Organized by artist Gabrielle Civil, Black Motion Pictures is a series of Zoom interviews with radical Black creatives about race, performance, and representation. The spring series of conversations (1/15, 2/17, 3/12, 4/14) includes artists Ayana Olamide Flewellen, Ra Malaika Imhotep, Jasmine Nyende, and ox Whitney. Past conversations are available for viewing at REDCAT.org.
Iconic Women of Color
Join Windy Barnes online for Iconic Women Of Color. The program is entertaining, complete with live musical selections and insightful monologues from each character portrayed. Some of these historical figures include Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Harriet Tubman, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Aretha Franklin, and Whitney Houston.
“The Orisha Talks” Sunday Salons
“The Orisha Talks” Sunday Salons Creative Sunday Salon of spoken word, poetry, music, dance, fashion and art – taking place onsite – in the garden, at the beach, on the porch or patio, at the lake or the park, in the sunshine maybe even the rain! Celebrating the Spring Equinox and the forces of Nature, called the Orisha! Creativity happens everywhere! Inspired by the book, The Orisha Talks: Tales of Lust, Love, & Herstorical Memory. Free – $23 includes…
Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival
A mix of theatre pieces, musical performances’ and dance by solo female performing artists. The Festival will be virtual this year, because of the pandemic.
April 2021
Made in L.A, 2020: a version
The fifth iteration of the Hammer’s acclaimed biennial bridges East and West with complementary presentations at the Hammer and The Huntington. Works by 30 Los Angeles-based artists are presented at both institutions in two versions that make up the whole. The exhibition features new installations, videos, films, sculptures, performances, and paintings, many commissioned specifically for the exhibition. Many of the featured events are online. The opening date of this exhibition is dependent on L.A. County guidelines for museums to reopen